RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Martin Directs the Ingestive Behavior Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical and has extensive experience conducting interventions to improve food intake, exercise, and body weight. Dr. Martin’s research interests include the application of technology to change people’s behavior and improve their health through mobile health (mHealth) interventions while they live at home. He is an expert at quantifying energy intake in controlled and free-living conditions, having developed and validated the Remote Food Photography Method and SmartIntake® smartphone app, which accurately measures the food intake of adults by analyzing images of foods captured by participants. Dr. Martin and colleagues also developed and validated mathematical models that accurately predict body mass and weight change over time in response to dieting or overfeeding, and they have utilized these models to quantify adherence to energy intake prescriptions during weight loss treatment. This and other work has led to the development and testing of mHealth interventions that remotely delivery weight management services to people via smartphone apps while they live at home. Dr. Martin also studies the compensatory effects of perturbing energy balance, including the effect of exercise on subsequent food intake and changes in activity and metabolism.